A study suggests that a noticeable portion of sources cited in Google AI answers may link back to Google properties instead of external websites, raising new questions for publishers and SEO visibility.
A new analysis suggests that Google’s AI-generated answers may sometimes cite Google itself as a source instead of linking to external websites.
According to the study, roughly one out of five citations inside AI answers appears to point to Google properties rather than independent sites.
In practice this means that some references in AI responses may direct users to other Google pages instead of sending traffic to publishers.
The observation is interesting because AI-generated answers already tend to reduce the number of clicks that go to traditional search results.
If a portion of the citations also stay within Google’s ecosystem, it could further change how visibility works for publishers and website owners.
For SEO professionals this raises a broader question about how citation systems inside AI answers are selecting sources and how often external websites are included.
As AI-driven search continues to evolve, the role of citations inside these answers may become increasingly important for traffic and visibility.
